Manar grew up in Ramallah, Palestine amid the life-draining viciousness of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and its apartheid state regime.  Her paintings place us in a surging and calming state of being that sees the sinews of our bodies as close-ups of plants, as abstract aerial visions of earth and water, as sound waveforms and letter shapes spiritually embodied.  Manar obtained an MFA in Book Art & Creative Writing from Mills College. She is also an Arabic teacher and currently lives in Oakland.  In 2024, she had a solo exhibition at Round Weather Gallery in Oakland.